Graduate Certificate Programs Provide In-Demand Skills for Master’s Students

Graduate students wanting “right now” industry skills to complement their foundational studies should consider adding a certificate to their degree.

In its new report, “Microcredentials and the Master’s Degree: Understanding the National Landscape to Support Learners and the Workforce,” the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) sheds light on the growing phenomenon of nontraditional graduate-level credentials.

These include badges, bootcamps, and other programs that don’t lead to degrees, but the report focuses mainly on certificates.

To conduct its research, the council’s team surveyed graduate deans, held focus groups, and interviewed university administrators and employers.

What emerged was a series of findings that confirmed the value of certificates, though with this caveat: Microcredentials are “best understood as part of a larger ecosystem including graduate degrees, not as an alternative to graduate degrees.”